Abstract
Galileo, BeiDou, QZSS, and NavIC are emerging global navigation satellite systems (GNSSs) and regional navigation satellite systems all of which are equipped with laser retroreflector arrays for range measurements. This paper summarizes the GNSS-intensive tracking campaigns conducted by the International Laser Ranging Service and provides results from multi-GNSS orbit determination using solely SLR observations. We consider the whole constellation of GLONASS, all active Galileo, four BeiDou satellites: 1 MEO, 3 IGSO, and one QZSS. We analyze the influence of the number of SLR observations on the quality of the 3-day multi-GNSS orbit solution. About 60 SLR observations are needed for obtaining MEO orbits of sufficient quality with the root mean square (RMS) of 3 cm for the radial component when compared to microwave-based orbits. From the analysis of a minimum number of tracking stations, when considering the 3-day arcs, 5 SLR stations do not provide a sufficient geometry of observations. The solution obtained using ten stations is characterized with RMS of 4, 9, and 18 cm in the radial, along-track, and cross-track direction, respectively, for MEO satellites. We also investigate the impact of the length of orbital arc on the quality of SLR-derived orbits. Hence, 5- and 7-day arcs constitute the best solution, whereas 3-day arcs are of inferior quality due to an insufficient number of SLR observations and 9-day arcs deteriorate the along-track component. The median RMS from the comparison between 7-day orbital arcs determined using SLR data with microwave-based orbits assumes values in the range of 3–4, 11–16, and 15–27 cm in radial, along-track, and cross-track, respectively, for MEO satellites. BeiDou IGSO and QZSS are characterized by RMS values higher by a factor of 8 and 24, respectively, than MEO orbits.
Highlights
IntroductionSatellite laser ranging (SLR) is a precise space-geodetic technique that provides range measurements to artificial satellites
1.1 Role of space geodesySatellite laser ranging (SLR) in space geodesySatellite laser ranging (SLR) is a precise space-geodetic technique that provides range measurements to artificial satellites
The effectiveness of GLONASS, Galileo and BeiDou Medium Earth Orbits (MEOs) owes to the fact that those constellations consist only of global coverage satellites which provides an even geometry of SLR observations, whereas BeiDou Inclined Geosynchronous Orbits (IGSOs) and Quasi-Zenith Satellite System (QZSS) suffer from a poor geometry of observations due to their regional attitude
Summary
Satellite laser ranging (SLR) is a precise space-geodetic technique that provides range measurements to artificial satellites. Due to both the characteristics of geodetic satellites and precise devices for range measurements installed at SLR tracking stations, SLR plays an important role in the realization of the International Terrestrial Reference Frame (ITRF, Altamimi et al 2016). Due to the fact that all new active navigation satellites are equipped with LRAs, SLR serves as a validation tool for microwave-based GNSS orbits (Zhu et al 1997; Appleby et al 1999; Urschl et al 2007; Fritsche et al 2014; Montenbruck et al 2015a; Steigenberger et al 2015; Zajdel et al 2017). SLR residuals may serve as a validation tool for the empirical models designed for the absorption of solar radiation pressure (SRP) such as the Empirical CODE Orbit Model (ECOM, Arnold et al 2015) or box-wing models (RodriguezSolano et al 2014)
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